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Formula 1 has released new footage of the crash between title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen from a 360-degree camera it hopes to make available to fans.
Hamilton and Verstappen crashed out of the Italian Grand Prix when Verstappen tried to pass the seven-time world champion at the first chance.
The Red Bull ended up pitched into the air and over the top of the Mercedes, bouncing off the roll hoop and the halo along the way.
A dramatic new angle on the Hamilton/Verstappen collision#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/PvN2KGUbbi
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 14, 2021
F1’s new footage comes from the 360-degree camera that has been fitted to all cars since 2018 but not integrated into the main broadcast either live or on replay.
The camera is position on the car’s nose which means it can face back towards the driver.
In this case, the camera captures the violence of the impact Hamilton’s car suffers as the Red Bull crashes over the top.
It also shows clearly the hit that Hamilton received on the head from Verstappen’s right rear tyre – an impact that only left a shocked Hamilton with a sore neck.
F1 has made select footage from the 360-degree camera available before – a lap of Spa-Francorchamps with Valtteri Bottas in 2017 and Hamilton’s Monaco pole lap in 2019 are available on F1’s YouTube channel with a function for the viewer to control the direction the camera is pointing.
Another video, which is ‘locked’ and cannot be manually controlled by the viewer, also shows footage from Hamilton’s Singapore 2018 pole lap with the camera moving around throughout the lap.
F1’s plan is to make the 360-degree camera more available on F1TV, the subscription platform that allows viewers to ride onboard with every driver.
It is unclear whether that means incorporating the camera into the rotation that is broadcast live or make it something selectable after the event.
